What acting with love looks like

Carvell Wallace finally faces his past and finds a way to move forward.

20 Dec 2017 09:58 GMT

Host Carvell Wallace and his Aunt Bea were always an odd couple. She was a salty no-nonsense white lawyer from a Connecticut dairy farm, and he was a delicate and somewhat obsessive African American child who had survived a year of hunger and homelessness and abuse. It would have made a great sitcom if it were funny. They lived together for several crucial years of Wallace's adolescence, but when he moved away to live with his mom again, he lost touch with his Aunt Bea. And time passed. Now, it's been nearly 20 years since they spoke.

In the first five episodes of his podcast Closer Than They Appear, Carvell Wallace has conversations about how the United States can move forward as a country while mining his personal history for parallels with the country's current political moment. He decides the best thing to do is to turn and face the dark moments in the country's history, and his own.

The sixth episode “What Do I Have To Give” is the culmination of this journey. Wallace gets back in touch with his Aunt Bea. But before they reunite, Wallace talks to Eva Paterson, a lawyer who's been fighting for civil rights since she debated then-Vice President Spiro Agnew in 1971, when she was 20. Paterson brings a lifetime's worth of wisdom and experience finding ways to go forward, politically and personally.

Closer Than They Appear is the debut show from Al Jazeera's new podcast studio, Jetty. Over the course of seven episodes, Wallace decides that the best way to move forward is to turn and face the dark moments in the US' history — and in his own. Along the way, he brings on guests for thoughtful conversations about what it means to be an American, what Americans are fighting for, and what's next for him and for all of us.

Catch up by listening to the first episode, featuring Oscar-winning actor Mahershala Ali, who joined Wallace to discuss what it means to be black men in the US, fatherhood in the time of Trump, and maintaining grace in the face of adversity.

You can listen to this episode in the player above and then subscribe in Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. You can also get full episodes on Facebook Watch.